Beautiful Disaster
by Thirtheenth Circle
Summary: The gang gets a new member, and maybe, with a little bit of magic, they can turn her life around. It's been a while since I've posted anything, I'm a bit rusty. Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

_**(A/N: Hello everyone, it's been a while, hasn't it? You probably don't remember me, and that's good! We can start over, from the beginning. All over. Anew. But enough about us, let's get a bit of background on this story. I was tired of writing regular fiction, and just recently got back into reading fan fiction. You should check out Obsidian Productions, his stories are sex. But anyway, I decided I wanted to write fan fiction again. I started with Borderlands, then a cross-over between Jak and Daxter and Borderlands… Yeah. That didn't work well. Anyways, here we are! Enough chatter, time for actual story.)**_

**Chapter One**

The beauty of the rising sun contrasted the ugly gloom that had settled into Jess' mind. She sat on the roof her apartment, watching the sun climb onto its perch about Haven City. White fluffy clouds streaked the morning sky. Jess sighed as a sullen breeze blew her scarlet hair into her eyes.

The source of her sadness was a certain problem, and the source of that problem was sitting in her hand. It was an eviction notice from the government of haven. They were sick and tired of allowing her to shirk her taxes and bills. In a few hours, agents would come to tear everything of value out of the house, including her if necessary.

How it went was, five years ago, Jess and her family had moved to haven after their original property was overrun by Metal Heads. They had owned a decent house on farm property that her father inherited from a great uncle. They had left everything behind, the yakows, the shop. She remembered watching the house get razed by a group of giant metal heads.

They had gone to Haven expecting shelter from the coming storm. Instead, they were shoved into an even greater tempest already in progress. They were swept into a tidal wave of poverty and government unreliability. Jess' brother, Cedric, was drafted into the Krimson Guards when he was eighteen. He died when a rebel movement, called the Underground, destroyed an ammunitions depot. Her father met his end trying to stop some kind of dark-eco monster.

Her heart and soul broken, Jess' mother wandered around the house, wailing like a banshee before tossing herself over the wooden docks and into the waters below. That was yesterday. Jess didn't bother with trying to save her at that point, nor did she shed a tear. She just walked home and shut the door.

Jess' house was actually just a squat apartment tucked away in a discreet corner of the slums. The inside was plain, save the peeled paint and water damage. The only furniture was a shoddy couch and a refrigerator that was as empty as Jess' stomach. She slept in a bundle of blankets that were, like her, unwashed and unkempt.

Jess glanced at the eviction note one last time before balling it up in her fist and tossing it off the roof. She made her way down the ladder and landed on the street below. She caught the last bar wrong and fell over backwards. Her head hit the pavement with a dull thud. "Damnit," she muttered. She became aware of a very tall shadow over her. She looked up into a pair of cold blue eyes.

The man was clad in a blue tunic that reached down over tan pants. He also had golden bronze armor pieces, goggles, and blond hair that had green tips. He offered a hand, but she growled and batted it away.

"Well what's your problem lady?" A loud, obnoxious and decidedly annoying voice came from above her. The source of said voice was an orange ottsel that had goggles and… pants. The damn thing had pants! And they looked better than any pants she'd ever worn. Embarrassed, Jess stood up and dusted herself off.

"What do you want?" She said crossly, starting to walk towards her front door. She wasn't in a talkative mood and she had a feeling they would only make things worse. And boy was she right.

"We're here to evict you," said the man. His voice was young, but had an edge to it. The kind of edge a voice tended to get after its owner went through a few things. It would have been pleasant if not for the words that came from it. They had the effect of a punch to the gut. Jess almost doubled over as a wave of shock, horror and fear flew over her.

"E-e-evict me? No-no-no! You can't just-"

"We have." Said the man, grabbing her arm and dragging her away, now limp with sadness, from the alley where her front door was located. She allowed herself to be dragged into an open street. It was early morning and only a few people were out on the street, but it would do for what she had planned.

"Rape!" Jess screamed at the top of her lungs. The word had the desired effect. People started turning to the scene, and the man stared blankly down at her and slackened his grip, just enough to wrench herself free. She began to ruin in the direction of her apartment. She got there before realizing just how stupid she was being. Was she really going to fight over the crapshack? Hobos had it better when it came to living spaces. Then again, the house was all she had left! That, and her current outfit, but the fabric was few and far between the holes.

With a sigh of defeat, her knees buckled and she dropped to the ground and started crying quietly. She sobbed dreadfully, and she hated the sound, but once she started, she just couldn't stop. Deciding to go out with some dignity, Jess stifled her sobs and wiped the tears from her eyes before standing up and checking her surroundings. The man and his ottsel were approaching her, a sneer of anger on his face. "Nice little trick you pulled!" He said, stopping a few feet away from her and crossing his arms.

"Whatever just takes it," she muttered, and began walking away.

"Hey!" Shouted the ottsel, his voice reaching a new level of annoying-ness.

"What?" She shouted back.

"Nothing personal toots!"

_Sure, whatever_, she thought, melting into the crowd of commuters.

_**(A/N: So there it goes! I should let you know now that it takes me a while to post chapters, so feel free to review in the meantime. Or drop a PM, or even e-mail me if it's that urgent. Seriously, leave a review; they're what make me even post these stories. Alright, until next time!)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**(A/N: Alright, this one's just a short filler, because I'm busy studying and other stuff. But eh, here it is anyway.)**_

_**Chapter Two**_

The sun sat on its throne above the city and shined down with its glorious golden rays. In the horizon, a sullen, grey storm cloud hovered ominously in the south. Jess took no notice of it, however, as a similar cloud of dismay had dampened her awareness to everything around her. She milled around the Slums, not caring where she went or who saw her. She resembled a vagrant now, and quite frankly, that's just what she was. She passed by a broken mirror and allowed herself a look into it. What she saw was a shock.

Her hair ran down her face like tears of blood, almost covering her emerald eyes, which were half-glazed over. Her clothes were a patchwork of fabric; none of it was the original. She realized just how gaunt she looked, and her skin was paler than it should have been. She sighed and continued walking. She soon found herself at the port, watching the seagulls fly around and peck at trash that people dropped all over the place.

"Precursors, this sucks," she muttered to herself. "What did I do to deserve any of this crap?"

"Well, for one thing, you didn't pay your damn bills," said an all-too-familiar voice from behind her. Jess looked up and saw the man from earlier, staring down at her with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. His ottsel stood on his left shoulder, a look of boredom on his face. She instantly slapped on a sneer of contempt and growled, "What do you want?"

"Look, we don't know what's up with you, but that house is garbage!" The ottsel climbed down from the man and walked up to her. "Smells like someone died in there! It made Krew smell like roses and dandelions. And did you see that water damage? Just plain awful."

"Yeah well," Jess started, getting up and turning to the man, "Someone did die there." He simply raised an eyebrow and moved his hands to his hips. "It was me. I died there. Well, my spirit did, I guess. Or however you want to put it." She sat back down and curled into a fetal position, her eyes set on the far wall of the port. The man sighed and sat down next to her.

"Why don't you tell us your story?" He asked. "We could help."

"I don't ask for help from people whose names I don't know," she grumbled. The ottsel hopped onto the man's shoulder and gave a winning smirk.

"Well, I'm _Orange Lightning_! And this is my side-kick, Jak!" Jess snorted.

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Look, Jak and Orange…"

"His name is Daxter." Jak said. Jess nodded.

"Well, Jak and Daxter, I appreciate the offer, but I'd prefer to die with some dignity."

"You can't die with dignity without dignity," Daxter joked. Jess stifled a chuckle and cracked a wry smile. "Why don't you come over to the Naughty Ottsel? I own the place, we can talk there." Jess shrugged. _I don't have anything better to do_, she thought. So Jak got up and offered her his hand. She took it tentatively, and for the first in a while, she didn't feel _that _lonely.

_**(A/N: Again, it's short, I know. But meh, doesn't matter. I'm not a stickler for long chapters. Anyway, until next time! Toodles.)**_


End file.
